'It’s a symbol': Will Russian invasion of Ukraine impact Fort Bragg soldiers?
About six months after the 82nd Airborne Division commander was the last American service member to leave Afghanistan, marking the end of a nearly 20-year war there, Fort Bragg troops are again deployed to a foreign country.
Some 300 soldiers with the 18th Airborne Corps are in Germany to set up a joint task force-capable headquarters there. Another estimated 4,700 combat infantry bridge soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division are in Poland.
Since April, U.S. defense officials have been concerned about the Russian buildup of 150,000 troops in Crimea and along Russia's eastern border with Ukraine.
Pentagon documents state Russia illegally occupied and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and then fomented a war in Eastern Ukraine that has killed 14,000 Ukrainians.
Pentagon officials have questioned Russia’s presence, saying the Russian government is not being transparent about what it is doing in the region.
Unlike 9/11, Department of Defense officials have not indicated that Russia poses a terrorist threat.
How would a Russian invasion affect Fort Bragg troops?
President Joe Biden and defense officials have said U.S. troops are deploying to show a commitment to NATO allies.
Article 5 of the Washington Treaty that established NATO in 1949, says that an attack against one alliance member is considered an attack on all.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has wanted to deter Ukraine from joining NATO.
More: 5 things we know about Fort Bragg soldiers deploying to Europe
"This is about more than just Russia and Ukraine," Biden said. "It's about standing for what we believe in, for the future we want for our world, for liberty — for liberty, the right of countless countries to choose their own destiny, and the right of people to determine their own futures, for the principle that a country can’t change its neighbor’s borders by force."
Biden ruled out deploying U.S. troops to Ukraine in December and again Tuesday.
He said the U.S. is ready to respond with sanctions to a Russian attack on Ukraine.
Biden said that while he hopes for a diplomatic resolution, an invasion by Russia is still possible and the U.S. has asked Americans to leave Ukraine.
Biden said the U.S. and NATO are not a threat to Russia, are not targeting Russians and do not have missiles in Ukraine.
“While I will not send American servicemen to fight Russia in Ukraine, we have supplied the Ukrainian military with equipment to help them defend themselves,” Biden said. “We have provided training and advice and intelligence for the same purpose.”
Biden said American troops are bolstering NATO’s eastern flank and the U.S. will continue to conduct military exercises with allies and partners.
During a news conference Feb.9, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby would not rule out the possibility of Fort Bragg paratroopers assisting with evacuating Americans from Ukraine.
He said there are “no active efforts in play to militarily evacuate American citizens” from Ukraine, as the State Department and president have urged Americans to leave.
“When the Secretary decided to send leading elements of the 82nd Airborne, which we talked about very publicly, we said from the very get-go that one of the reasons why we chose that unit is their multi-mission (abilities), and they're on a high-alert readiness posture as it is,” Kirby said.
Will Russia invade?
During a virtual media briefing last week, public policy professors from Duke University said they did not think a Russian invasion of Ukraine is likely.
Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles Dunlap, a law professor at Duke, said he thinks Putin has already achieved strategic gains.
“He’s crushed any illusions that Ukrainians might have had that any nation on planet earth would come to their aid in terms of putting troops on the ground,” Dunlap said. “That will have a significant psychological effect on the Ukrainian people and a reverberating effect, quite frankly, on even NATO allies in eastern Europe.”
Dunlap said he does not think the Ukrainian military could deter Russian military effort.
“The NATO countries are so rattled by the idea that there might actually be war over this, that any effort to have Ukraine join NATO won’t gain traction in the foreseeable future,” he said.
Dunlap said he thinks the deployment of American troops to Europe is more symbolic. He doesn't think they will fight in Ukraine.
“We do have the best paratroopers on the planet, but 3,500 paratroopers are not going to stop 135,000 Russian troops,” he said. “So I think it’s a symbol. I’m not particularly in favor of using military forces that way to try to send messages. If you’re going to send a message, you don’t do it with 3,500 troops.”
More: 'This is what we do': What Fort Bragg paratroopers say about latest deployment to Europe
Dunlap said the troops would defend Poland as part of NATO action, but he doesn’t think it would do much for Ukrainians.
The Department of Defense has had 8,500 troops on heightened alert since the end of January.
Kirby said those troops are ready to move if called for by the NATO response force or directed by the secretary of defense or president.
Kirby said any decision to activate the NATO Response Force, of which the United States is a part, would be a decision the North Atlantic Council has to make. He said that is not something that the U.S. would unilaterally call into being.
Kirby noted that Biden has made it clear that U.S. troops will not fight in Ukraine.
The deployment of troops to Europe, he said, is to “reassure our allies and our partners; to deter aggression against the alliance; to conduct some joint training.”
Simon Miles, a Duke assistant professor of public policy and an expert on Russia and the former Soviet Union, said he also does not foresee an invasion.
Miles said Russian troops do not seem aware of operational security issues and have posted videos and photos on social media.
“There are kind of all over the place, and we can see that the living conditions are not the types of conditions that are suitable for a long-term military deployment,” Miles said.
Dunlap said he thinks there is military value to Russia moving that many forces.
Sanctions
On Tuesday, Biden said that if Russia proceeds, the U.S. will “rally the world to oppose its aggression.”
Biden said the U.S. and its allies and partners are ready to impose sanctions that would put pressure on Russian financial institutions and key industries.
“We'll impose long-term consequences that will undermine Russia’s ability to compete economically and strategically,” he said.
Bruce Jentleson, a Duke professor of public policy and political science, and a former senior adviser for the U.S. State Department, said sanctions “have never crippled” Russia but can impose an economic cost.
Jentleson said Europe also trades 11 times greater with Russia than the U.S.
North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis and other Republican senators introduced a bill Tuesday that would provide support to Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russia.
“As Russian troops continue to threaten the Ukrainian border with every indication they will invade, it is critical the United States and our NATO allies stand together to punish Putin’s latest aggression,” Tillis said.
Tillis said the legislation proposes imposing “damaging sanctions on Russia.”
“We should not wait for a potential invasion to respond to this threat, and (we should) do everything in our power to protect our allies and democracy in Europe,” he said.
The bill proposes sanctions on major Russian banks and secondary sanctions on banks that continue to conduct business with sanctioned Russian banks.
It also proposes providing $500 million in foreign military financing for Ukraine, including $250 million in emergency funding, with $100 million for emergency lethal assistance for critical capabilities like air defense, anti-armor, and anti-ship capabilities.
Other proposals include doubling funding for U.S. military exercises in Europe; creating a new State Department program for Eastern Europe to help European allies strengthen their own defensive capabilities and incentivize greater burden-sharing; and boosting funding for State Department efforts to counter Russian disinformation.
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.
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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: How would a Russian invasion into Ukraine impact Fort Bragg soldiers?
